Ocampo claims Uhuru-Mungiki link

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta will be required to explain his association with Mungiki, if any, when his case starts at the International Criminal Court in September.

The Finance Minister, alongside head of civil service Francis Muthaura and postmaster-general Hussein Ali will also be asked to explain what role the police played in the 2008 post-election violence, according to evidence released to them by prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

The prosecutor has released to the three suspects, 154 documents which he intends to use as evidence for the confirmation hearing. He is relying on material collected on Mungiki which includes media reports associating Mr Kenyatta and other Central Kenya MPs with Mungiki. The deputy prime minister denies there is a link between him and the outlawed gang.

Mr Kenyatta will also be explaining if he was among politicians allied to President Kibaki who were reported to have met Mungiki leaders to plan attacks in Nairobi and Naivasha.

The evidence shows that the information is mostly from accounts recorded by human rights groups, including the Human Rights Watch and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. Some of the information however is from local and international media reports.

Mr Muthaura, who chaired the National Security Council and Mr Ali, who was Police Commissioner will find themselves explaining how the police reacted to the violence and if they collaborated with outlawed gangs especially Mungiki.

The two will also be required to explain the role of the police in extrajudicial killings that were reported in the country prior to the 2007 elections.

Mr Ali is also expected to tell the ICC whether he gave instructions, as claimed by some of his juniors then, to officers in the force to either shoot to kill or release suspects.

In particular, the list of evidence has witness who claimed that Mr Ali asked his juniors to releases members of the Chinkororo and Sungusungu gangs who had been arrested. Mr Muthaura, due to his position in the Office of the President could also find himself explaining the exit of Mr Stanley Murage the adviser to the President on strategic policy from State House in 2008.

There are however two more batches of evidence that the prosecutor is yet to release to the three suspects before their hearing on September 29.

“The Prosecution notes that it has no materials which were obtained from or belonged to the suspects,” Mr Moreno-Ocampo said while releasing the evidence which had been collected before December 15 last year.

The other Kenyans facing cases at the ICC are Eldoret North MP William Ruto, radio presenter Joshua Sang and Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey.